Em Cooper is a British

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

. She is best known for her distinctive hand-painted oil-paint animation style and as the director of the oil-painted music video for

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

song ''

I'm Only Sleeping "I'm Only Sleeping" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 studio album ''Revolver''. In the United States and Canada, it was one of the three tracks that Capitol Records cut from the album and instead included on '' Yes ...

'' released on 1 November 2022 and created with over 1300 of Cooper's oil paintings. Her direction of the music video for ''

'' won it the

Grammy Award for Best Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. ...

at the 66th Grammy Awards. In 2023 the film also won the Jury Award for a Commissioned Film at

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

; Best Animation at the Shark Music Video Awards; Gold at the Creative Circle Awards (Best Music Video Animation). In 2018 Cooper was nominated for an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

for her animation sequences for the PBS features documentary Deej.

Career

Born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, Cooper works as an animator specialising in combining oil-painted animation with live-action film to create sequences which evoke a stream of consciousness, or portray subjective experience. Early in her career, after graduating from the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

in 2010, Cooper directed the animation sequences for Eric Steel's feature documentary ''Kiss The Water''. The film received critical acclaim by the British press including Time Out, The Times, The Observer, The Financial Times and The Telegraph. The film was later named one of the ten best documentaries of the year by

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

film critic

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter, author and podcaster. He is the co-presenter (with Ellen E. Jones) of the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Screenshot'', and co-presenter ...

. In 2015, the film was screened on BBC television. In 2012, she co-directed the documentary ''30%: Women and Politics in Sierra Leone'' with Anna Cady. The film had its premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film deals with difficulties faced by

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

’s women to be fairly represented in politics and features Salamatu Kamara and Bernadette Lahai. In 2015 Cooper created sequences for the Amazon Prime series ''Gortimer Gibbons Life on Normal Street''. In 2018 she directed the Time to Get Out TV commercial for Berghaus voiced by

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in ''Dinnerladies (TV series), dinnerladies'', a sitcom on BBC One (1998–2000), as List of Shameless (British TV series) characters#Vero ...

as well as the tv commercial for

Andrex Andrex is a British brand of toilet roll. It is owned by the United States, American company Kimberly-Clark. The "Andrex Puppy", a Labrador Retriever puppy that appears on the company's television advertisements, is synonymous with the brand. T ...

with the partnership of Water Aid and in 2021 she worked with

Mark Seliger Mark Alan Seliger (born May 23, 1959) is an American photographer noted for his portraiture. From 1992 to 2002, he was Chief Photographer for ''Rolling Stone'', during which time he shot over 188 covers for the magazine. From 2002 to 2012 he was u ...

to co-direct the 2021 Stella Artois Christmas Ad, featuring

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...

. Cooper has had her work screened at multiple film festivals including the European Psychoanalytic Film Festival (epff) in 2007 and the International Sándor Ferenczi Conference in Budapest, 2012/2013. In 2015, she won the Gradiva Award for film at the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. In 2018, she directed oil-paint animated TV commercials for Berghaus as well as for

with the partnership of Water Aid. In 2015 she directed the animation for the film ''Deej''. The film was a reframed feature documentary directed by Robert Rooy and broadcast on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. In 2018, she was nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for her animation film ''Deej'' under the Outstanding Art Direction and Graphic Design category. The film ''Deej'' was screened as part of America ReFramed on PBS World in the USA on 24 October 2017 and later won the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

in the USA.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Em British animated film directors Women animated film directors British animators British film directors British women animators British women film directors Grammy Award winners Living people Mass media people from Cambridge Year of birth missing (living people)